Molleturo Project
Project History
The earliest known work on the Ariel mining concessions was done by local companies and an American company Farmland International Energy Company ("Farmland"). Exploration programs that included stream sediment, soil and rock geochemistry, ground geophysics (magnetometer survey) and tunneling were completed between 1970 and 1976. Associated geological surveys located polymetallic sulphide bearing quartz veins known as the Roman and Isabel Veins. Four adits were driven on five levels along with a total of approximately 770 metres of underground development. Mapping and channel sampling activities were carried out in the tunnels. Unsubstantiated average grades for the Roman and Isabel veins reported by Farmland were:
450 g/t Ag, 4.3 g/t Au, 2.2% Cu, 8.1% Pb and 8.0% Znz
In 1991, a local entrepreneur Señor Antonio Granda Centeno contracted the Universidad Central del Ecuador, Faculty of Geology, Mining & Petroleum, School of Mines ("UCE") to conduct detailed underground geological mapping and sampling of the five levels of tunnels along the Roman and Isabel Veins. This work was conducted on an earlier concession known as the Molleturo Concession owned by Granda Centeno. The mean grade for the samples taken along the Roman and Isabel Veins as reported by UCE was as follows:
392.0 g/t Ag, 3.4 g/t Au, 0.69% Cu, 2.3% Pb and 4.2% Zn
UCE also completed soil geochemistry and a ground magnetometer survey covering approximately 25% of the former Molleturo concession area along the strike extensions of the known veins. The soil samples were analysed for Cu, Pb, Zn, Ni, Cr and Co but not for other key elements such as Au, Ag, As, Sb, Bi, etc. Semi-coincident Cu-Pb-Zn anomalies were noted downslope from the Roman and Isabel Veins and in other untested locations covered by the survey.
Ascendant Exploration S.A. made an application to the Ministry of Mines and Petroleum ("MMP") and acquired the Ariel concession, where the Roman and Isabel Veins are located, on August 18, 2004. The property was subsequently transferred to Ecuador Gold S.A. on February 14, 2006. Ecuador Gold S.A. made additional applications to the MMP and acquired additional concessions during 2006 and in early 2007 enlarging the Molleturo Project area in all directions up to 48,059 hectares (approxiamtely118,706 acres) based principally on regional geochemical anomalies, tectonic setting and direct field geological observations.